


The Bluest of Blue Skies

by fairydustedtheory



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, Alternate Universe - Human, Cruise Fluff, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Fluff, M/M, POV Derek Hale, Roommates, accidental roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:02:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25505626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairydustedtheory/pseuds/fairydustedtheory
Summary: "You didn't." Derek grumbled to himself. "Fuck, Laura, you didn't."Derek shook his head slowly, his whole body burning with a feeling of utter betrayal. She could have. Fuck, Laura had actually paid for a cruise hooker, didn't she? Derek was going to murder her. He was going to kill her as soon as he set a foot back on land.-or the one where Derek finds himself stuck on a cruise with an accidental roommate who seems to be the most annoyingly cheerful person Derek has ever met.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 34
Kudos: 392
Collections: A Very Sterek Summer fest 2020





	The Bluest of Blue Skies

**Author's Note:**

> Written for A Very Sterek Summer 2020. Day 5, theme Travel.  
> 
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://fairydustedtheory.tumblr.com/tagged/plot%20twist%20:%20i%20write)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Derek opened the door and froze mid-step. What the hell was even happening here? There was a young man there sprawled on the bed. Half naked, just in his very tight black boxers. The man froze too, eyes going wide, mouth half open in his silent surprise.

The engines had barely started, the ship was still making its way out of the marina. How did that man get here and naked so fast?

Derek had only managed to find the way to his cabin. The ship seemed as big as a whole city. Surely it would have taken more time to get here and naked unless it was all planned in advance. 

"You didn't." Derek grumbled to himself. "Fuck, Laura, _you didn't._ "

Derek shook his head slowly, his whole body burning with a feeling of utter betrayal. She could have. Fuck, Laura had actually paid for a cruise hooker, didn't she? Derek was going to murder her. He was going to kill her as soon as he set a foot back on land.

She had been telling him for months, if not years, (Derek wouldn't go into the details of his sex life or lack thereof with his older sister no matter how nosy she was), that he was stressed as a string and needed to get laid. As if sex was the answer to everything. Sex didn't solve jack shit when it came to their workload at Hale Corp. Sex was only a complication because Derek just didn't do casual sex. He wasn't wired that way. He couldn't go into a club and fuck some random dude and be happy with himself in the morning.

Laura just wouldn't let it go. She obviously had taken the matter into her own hands.

Wasn't it enough to force him to take a vacation using all his accumulated days off from the last couple of years? No, she had so little faith in him that she didn't believe he would actually stop working even after banning him from stepping foot into the office. She had so little faith that she had cut off the WiFi connection in his loft and when she came over one morning and found him on his unconnected laptop, she had literally, with all her big sister strength, dragged him away from his desk and into a vacation cruise without said laptop and even without his phone.

She knew him too well, but she couldn't possibly believe he would do that. Not that. Derek wasn't so desperate no matter what his sister believed.

All expenses paid as a bonus for all his work at Hale Corp, she had said. The accountant was going to be thrilled to see the bill for a hooker in the books. Fuck, this wasn't funny, Laura.

"Hey, sorry, this must be a mistake I didn't order any room service." The young man smiled awkwardly as he scrambled to cover himself. His smile faltered slightly as he said. "Also isn't there a policy about knocking? Wait - _Wait,_ is that a bag?" His eyes had narrowed on the duffel bag strap on Derek's shoulder.

Alright, so maybe he was not a hooker paid to wait for Derek in his room.

Derek scowled. "This is my room."

"Uh. No?" was all the younger man said. It sounded like a question but somehow didn't seem like it left any room for questioning.

Derek checked the number on the door, looked around the room : a suite, with a small couch, a sitting-dining space, a bathroom and a balcony. Yes, it was all in his reservation booklet. That was the room. His fucking key opened the door, that had to be telling something. 

"This is my room." Derek stated again. As if saying it again was going to make that naked young man see the light.

"Okay, asshole, possessive much?" The intruder snorted dismissively.

"Mine." Derek couldn't help but insist once more which prompted some real eye-rolling from the man in front of him.

Derek had half a mind to punch him in the face and kick him through the balcony door and into the ocean.

"What's on your ticket?" Derek pinched the bridge of his nose.

He tried to breathe, keep his blood from boiling. Wouldn't that be his luck if he was to have a ruptured aneurysm on the first day on board?

For all the disturbance it was to have an actual stranger, almost naked on the bed he had intended to sleep in, Derek could find solace in the fact that he was actually not a hooker. It was important to focus on the silver-lining here.  
This was just a mistake. This kid had just gotten into the wrong room. Everything was going to go back to normal soon. Derek would be able to not enjoy his forced vacation and wallow in his gloom for the entirety of the trip. In peace. Without the added surprise non-hooker guest.

"I got an upgrade," Not-hooker-guy assured him. "I have booked a guarantee ticket and I was upgraded to this room. The steward actually brought me here himself so I know I'm in the right room. Maybe you also got an upgrade? Have you checked with the steward? The crooked jawed one that was in the red carpeted hall? He seems to be ready to help anyone in need. A nice one, you know. You should try it sometimes, being nice."

"You had a guarantee ticket?" Derek asked, pointedly ignoring the last comment and trying not to stare into the man’s rather beautiful hazel eyes.

He wasn't a connoisseur in terms of cruises or any vacations for that matter but as a business man, Derek had taken quite a few trips in his lifetime. He knew guarantee tickets weren't always a great deal. Guarantee tickets wouldn't give you one of the best situated suites on board. Not even the best upgrade would do that.

"Yeah..." Not-cute-guy scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he was trying to ungracefully pull back his jeans, tugging the pants with one hand. Did that guy even know how bodies were supposed to move? "I know nothing about cruises, it was a present for my dad. I received this promotional email, right? Did you also get one?"

Derek looked at him without a word. His eyebrows conveyed everything that needed to be said because Hazel Eyes' whole body shuddered.

"Right. Guess you're not the type to go for random promotional emails. Anyway... It was such a great deal that I just clicked on it without even thinking. Good thing I had some savings because what wouldn't people do for their dads, right?" 

He had managed to get dressed. Thank God. Derek was still standing there in the doorway. The whole scene felt like a sketch, a hidden camera kind of prank. Derek wasn't in the mood to laugh. 

"There's only one bed in this room." Derek said. "Where is your dad going to sleep?"

Derek couldn't explain what came over him that he felt the need to ask that. Their father-son sleeping arrangement wasn't remotely any of his concerns. They could both sleep in the same bed for all Derek cared. As long as it wasn't here in this very bed in this very room where Derek intended to sleep.  
He didn't quite appreciate the mental image. All he wanted was to get this kid out of his room without having to physically kick him out. If he could make it without getting emotionally scarred too, he would consider that a win. 

"Oh no, I'm here alone!" The young man exclaimed as if it had been obvious. "You'd think my dad wasn't happy with his gift or something. Nah, he was happy but you know. _Life."_ He shrugged. "It wasn't like I was at a loss as to what I would do with myself this summer. I could have used this time to get an internship somewhere or just bask in the sun by the pool before actually starting a career. You know, fun and the anxiety of our twenties all bundle into one big summer burrito. But Dad wasn't having any of it. The idea that he was going to have to deal with me on top of a murder investigation apparently filled him with a nameless dread or something. Like I was going to go look for a dead body in the woods. I mean it happened, once, okay twice but I wasn't going to do it again. I matured. I'm a man now. I don't do stupid shit like hunting dead bodies with a murderer on the loose. Pfff that would be crazy."

Derek stared at him and tried to calculate the speed at which the words were coming out of his mouth. That was inhuman. Derek also calculated how many steps it would take for him to cross the room and jump off the balcony and let himself drown into the ocean waves. He had only hoped for an uneventful trip, just in and out and back to work. This plan had already failed miserably because, this man right here, that was an event.

Again, he was going to murder Laura. It didn't matter if she had nothing to do with the booking error happening right now. She was a dead woman walking.

"Uh so... yeah." He glanced back at Derek stopping his ramble seeing that Derek hadn't said a word at all and was still actually standing there listening to him. "Do you need me to accompany you to figure out the room thing?"

"Okay." was what came out of Derek's mouth for some reason.

That was definitely not what he had intended to say. He just wanted to tell him to get lost and find another room to crash in and never say another word to Derek ever again or Derek would have a second dead body to dispose of when he got back on land.   
Where were all these homicidal tendencies coming from?

"Awesome!" He gave him the brightest, hundred watts bright smile Derek had ever seen. "I'm Stiles. You know, just in case you were calling me weird names in your head."

"Okay..." Derek trailed off, eyebrows shooting up.

God, he hoped that guy wasn't a mind reader. Derek wasn't a believer but it would just be his luck to stumble upon a real psychic on this stupid cruise and have such a strange encounter. He didn't want to be made the protagonist in some self-help book. Psychics wrote books, didn't they?

"That's where you're supposed to tell me your name, Doofus, so I don't have to call you hot and broody in my head." Not-cute Stiles winked. 

Derek frowned, and quickly glanced over his shoulder to make sure this guy was actually talking to him. "Derek."

The smile was back. "Derek." He said it as if he was testing it out to see if it felt right. "Alright! Come on, Derek, we're going to figure it out. Don't look so constipated!"

Derek wasn't constipated. He had no reason to be constipated. Soon that Stiles guy was going to be moving to greener pastures, and by that Derek meant a smaller cabin somewhere far away. Derek would have his suite for himself and he would only leave it in case of a shipwreck. 

Stiles took Derek's bag from him and threw it on the bed before leading Derek out of the room. He acted like it was his room. It wasn't his room.

All of it was Laura's fault. All of it.

*-*-*

Derek followed blindly as Stiles took the lead, finding the way through a series of hallways before he seemed to find what he had been looking for. 

"Hey, Scott! Scott, was it?" Stiles ran up to a steward. 

"Hey, is everything alright? What can I do to be of service?" He greeted them with a warm smile.

"We are in some sort of a pickle. Derek, here, has a key to my room." Stiles grimaced, seemingly feeling Derek's glare bearing hole through his head. "I mean, he and I each have a key to the same room. But we didn't come here together. We don't know each other. So we wanted to come check with you what was going on and hopefully sort it all out. Does he have an upgrade to some better deck or something?"

"Oh." Scott frowned. "Let me check the register."

"I'll make it easy for you. I do not have an upgrade. This is my room." Derek crossed his arms over his chest, standing straight and professionally menacing.

Nothing about this made any sense. Derek didn't feel like fooling around, he just wanted to get this over with.

"Okay Grumpy Cat, I heard you the first hundred times." Stiles patted Derek's shoulder in false consideration.

Derek glanced at the point of contact. How many times did this complete stranger manage to touch him in the last thirty minutes? People just didn't touch him. Either they felt they weren't allowed, which they weren't, or they were scared to do so because Derek, in Laura's words, gave off serial killer vibes sometimes.

This young man seemed immune to Derek's personal space bubble. Derek didn't know how to deal with it. All his usual protective instincts didn't seem to function at all. No amount of scoffing or glaring had had any effect. Derek also didn't know how to feel about the insanely long eyelashes framing Stiles' bright eyes. Definitely something that could inspire poets to create some wonderful masterpiece.

"Guys..." Scott the steward cleared his throat. "There seems to have been a mistake. You are both registered in that cabin."

He turned away a second and tapped furiously on his tablet to presumably double-check or manage to not screw Derek and Stiles over with this only statement.  
Derek just stared at him, waiting for him to continue and offer some alternative, take Stiles away and into that other small cabin he paid for.   
Looking back up at them, Scott's brain seemed to have blanked out for a minute. He looked like a lost puppy. Derek was disgusted.

"Okay..." Stiles narrowed his eyes. "And?" 

He could count on Stiles to try to clear things up at least, because Scott didn't seem inclined on talking at the moment. Derek mentally cursed Laura again for forcing him on this cruise with a bunch of idiots unable to do their job correctly. If it had been any of the Hale Corp's employees, Talia, his mother and boss of the company, wouldn't have blinked twice before firing them on the spot. She was ruthless, that was why the company was so successful. Derek had a hard with it sometimes, but he was only glad that he didn't have to be the boss and that the chair would go to Laura when his mom decided to retire.

"I don't know, man, it's my first time on this circuit. I've never had to manage the register for a ship this big." Scott looked mortified.

"Are you trying to say you don't know how to do your job??" Derek growled.

Clearly, that was what Scott was saying and Derek wasn't having it. They had left the harbor it was too late to turn back around. 

Stiles vigorously pulled him to the side, with an awkward apologetic smile in Scott's direction.

He pushed his face right into Derek's so that the only thing Derek was able to see was Stiles' squinty eyes as he loudly whispered. "You're truly a bundle of laughs, aren't you? Look at that poor kid, he's about to shit his pants because of you!"

Derek glanced back at Steward Scott. He did look miserable. Alright. Derek swallowed down his smugness at knowing that his authoritative business voice had worked so well. Seeing it through Stiles' eyes, he did feel a little bit like an asshole.

Stiles swatted his shoulder to bring his attention back to him. _"Play nice!"_

Derek played nice so much that about less than fifteen minutes later, he was still standing there, listening to Scott explain for the fourth times that all the simple ocean view cabins that Stiles had booked were full.

Derek's suite was his, as in specifically the one Hale Corp had booked for him. Laura knew he was picky when it came to commodities and had specifically called the agency to find the one perfect cabin, just on the perfect deck to have the good view but to not feel the motions too much, close enough to the restaurant but far enough to not be bothered by the noise. Derek wasn't leaving his room for anything in the world. For all he didn't want to be here right now, it was the perfect cabin and he intended on keeping it.  
The only thing Scott was able to offer was a critical downgrade to Stiles' ticket and giving him an inside cabin deep inside the boat next to the laundry room and a partial refund.   
Stiles' face fell. Not just a little. He looked mortified, like someone had just told him they had crashed his car or that his kitten had died.

It wasn't that Derek cared a lot about what happened to Stiles now that he had the confirmation that his room was actually his, but he couldn't imagine letting him be downgraded to something so awful. Getting an inside cabin for the Caribbean route, that was something for big families who planned to spend their whole days by the pool. He couldn't let that happen.

"It's fine." Derek said without thinking.

What was he even saying? Stiles' head jerked up to meet his eyes.

"It's fine." Derek repeated. Fuck, _what was he even saying?_ It felt right to say these words but he had not really realized what he was implying. Nothing really clicked in his brain except that Stiles was standing right here and Derek somehow refused to think about him having to go sleep next to the laundry room for a whole month.

"It's fine?" Stiles squawked. "Dude. What are you offering?"

That was a good question, it caught Derek by surprise even though he had been the one saying it was fine just then. He cleared his throat. "There's a couch in the suite. As long as you stay out of my way..."

"Oh my God, I love you!" Stiles exclaimed excitedly. "You don't seem like much at first glance but you are a true hero, a brave and kind soul. Oh my god. Really? Are you saying this for real? You're not joking are you? You're serious..."

Derek blinked a couple of times, somewhat dazed by the whole situation. "Out of my way." He insisted.

"Absolutely! Totally! A fly on the wall and silent as whatever it is that is the most silent thing in the world! Definitely. Out of the way. Of course!" Stiles was so excited, he was barely keeping in place.

It dawned on Derek that it might have been the worst thing he ever brought upon himself.

A month in the same room as that oddball. That was going to feel like an eternity.

*-*-*

The suite door was barely closed that Stiles started talking again. Derek should have known better. He shouldn't have expected Stiles to stay out of the way. Stiles had been the one admitting to going look for dead bodies in the woods in the middle of a police investigation. Twice. How could Derek think he would be capable of staying out of anyone's way?

"Have you ever been on a cruise before? I've only gone on a short day cruise on the California coastline, nothing nearly as big as this ship. Shit, I think there's even a tennis court? Come on, who wants to go play tennis on a cruise? That's absolutely nuts." Stiles said, flopping himself on the couch. 

His now designated private couch, Derek realized. If Stiles was supposed to stay out of his way, surely it meant Derek had to stay out of Stiles' too, which meant he couldn't go sit on this couch without inadvertently sitting on what was now Stiles' bed. Derek decided he was going to ignore the existence of this couch and the person sleeping on it.

It should be easy enough. If Stiles didn't mind his own business, Derek could easily tune him out.

"First big cruise too." He forced himself to say, to be somewhat polite, but conveying with his eyebrows that he really wanted this conversation to stop for good.

_"Right."_ Stiles jumped up and took the few big stride to the large sliding door that led to a balcony. "Oh man, look at that view!"

Stiles slid the door open and stepped out. Derek refused to follow. He busied himself with his bag, and the luggage the stewards had brought up before his arrival. He pointedly didn't look at Stiles' silhouette on the balcony, leaning just a little too overboard for Derek's liking.

After about an hour of staring at the ocean, Stiles turned back toward the cabin. "Yeah, you know, the ocean... that's nice and all but after a while the novelty of it lessens dramatically."

Derek fought an involuntary smile, not a big one but he couldn't keep the twist of the lips in. God, he wasn't that weak. He was still determined to not enjoy himself on this cruise. No one would change the fact that Derek was stubborn. He was going to be miserable and blame Laura every day. That was what his big sister deserved. 

He had taken out one of the books he had brought along from his mile long "to read" list, that he never got around to reading as he was too busy with work all the time.

Stiles stared hopefully at Derek from the balcony door. Derek twitched feeling his eyes on him. So much for relaxing on this trip. He would want to blame Laura again but clearly he had made that one mistake himself.

Stiles stood there, not moving as Derek read the same page two, three times, maybe even four, doing his best to not fall for some powerful bambi eyes. He was focusing on sending off all the silent commands telling Stiles to just shut up, go away and leave him be.

The suite was big enough to share without having to exchange words.

Stiles took the hint. He begrudgingly stepped back in and rummaged through his backpack. He pulled out his IPad from his bag and started busying himself on it.

He kept quiet for a while. Derek discreetly sighed in relief and tried to focus back on his book but the slow tap tap tap of Stiles' fingers on the screen was not so much intrusive as it was mesmerizing. Derek found himself staring at Stiles' long fingers playing on the screen. It was as if they were dancing.

Derek closed his book and let it fall on the bed. He rubbed a hand down his face. Shit. He really needed to focus on something else.

Stiles glanced up automatically at the movement, and did a double take before frowning at Derek. Derek averted his eyes quickly, realizing that yes he had actually been staring a little too intensely.

"Everything's alright?" Stiles asked, his smirk all too knowing.

Derek had promised himself he would resolutely ignore any attempts at conversation, but he had been caught red-handed so he had to pretend to not be a creeper at least.

"Yes. It's just that I don't have anything with me. No phone, no tablet, no computer..." He admitted.

"Ah crap, you were going for the whole digital detox? Am I absolutely bursting your cruise dream?" Stiles asked, eyebrows shooting shy-high.

"No." Derek's lips twitched again. _Dammit._

"What is it then? Aren't you escaping an overloaded and overworked life? That seems like that's your type." Stiles added sounding nonchalant, with a small curl at the corner of his lips. Slightly mocking.

How could he affirm what Derek's type was so easily? Derek scratched the back of his head. He really was stressed as a string if a mere stranger was able to read him so well.

"Yes. That was the idea. But my sister's. She thought I would just end up working from home or even from this very boat if I was left to my own devices. She confiscated all my electronics before I boarded. As a surprise farewell I guess." Derek said, his lips pressed into an unhappy line.

"Haha, she sounds like my type of girl." Stiles laughed.

Something churned in Derek's belly. If he stopped to think a second, he knew that was just a phrase like that. Stiles couldn't be hitting on his sister - she wasn't even here for God's sake - and Derek had no intention of ever seeing him again once the cruise was over so there was no way for Stiles to be hitting on her in the future either. There was nothing to worry about here.

The motherland wasn't a place for Derek and Stiles to ever interact. For all he was now surrendering himself to a sea of unwelcome conversation for the remainder of the cruise, Derek knew it was only temporary.

"Do you want to borrow it?" Stiles asked, startling Derek out of his reverie again.

"Uh?" 

"The IPad? It's set up to the ship's wifi so you can, I don't know, check your e-mails, see if you have something from your wife or something." Stiles shrugged.

"I don't have a -" Derek cut himself off. "Yes, thank you."

Stiles smirked. Derek really fell easily for that one. Stiles tapped a few times on his screen before scrambling over and handing him the tablet.

"There you go, for your very important not-wife e-mails then." Stiles arched an eyebrow, teasing. 

“My not-wife thanks you greatly.” Derek snorted with an indifference he didn’t actually feel.

"I bet." Stiles smiled, with a wink.

Stiles was winker, that was one thing Derek had learned about him since they had met this morning.

He was so close, Derek felt his chest clench. He wondered if it was possible to electrocute himself enough on one of the safety outlets to fall into a coma until the ship docked at its final stop in Miami. It would so much easier. Derek was just trying to not do anything untoward, keep things platonic. He didn't want to cross any damn lines.

He couldn't let himself be attracted to some random guy. No... It was just that Laura had gotten in his head about all the sex he should be having. Nothing more.

*-*-*

Derek managed to spend the rest of the day without much disturbance as Stiles had decided to go explore the boat. The suite seemed relatively empty and boring without him. Derek wanted to rejoice in the silence. He even tried to go sit on the balcony and smell the ocean air. 

He couldn't get Stiles out of his mind though.  
Derek had had the obscure dread that Stiles was going to want to stay glued to his side, latch onto him as they were both alone and now surprise roommates on top of everything, but Stiles had slipped away with just a soft "see you later", and didn't come back.

He had just gone out there with nothing. He hadn't even taken the map of the ship with him. The map was still there on the table. Unless Stiles found a way to meet that crooked jawed steward again, he might very well have gotten lost somewhere and what was Derek to do if the guy never found the way to his -their- room again?

Derek had planned to order something from room service at first but now he had to go save that dumbass. He couldn't just sit there and wait.

Grabbing the map quickly, he slammed the door behind him. He made his way toward some of the venues, clutching the map tightly in one hand. He managed to make his way to the nearest restaurant, without getting lost too far. The whole ship was a maze of corridors and different halls. He still had to trace his steps back a couple of times, even with the map in his hands.

As he stepped into the restaurant though, he quickly realized that Stiles didn't need any saving. 

He could see Stiles in the group assembled here, and found himself regretting his decision to leave the room after all.  
The realization that he had needlessly been worrying about a complete stranger irritated him beyond compare. Derek was just too stupid and Stiles was just too irritating. 

He went to sit in a corner and stared out of the window instead of focusing his attention on the boy laughing at the bar.

Derek was determined to ignore him. He could handle that. 

For some reason though, he couldn't help but glance back. He stared, he stared he couldn't stop himself, and watched as Stiles was shamelessly flirting with the couple women around him, and even with the very male barman standing behind the bar who was busy drying a wine glass with a white cloth as he looked at Stiles with a little twinkle in his eye that Derek wanted to go and punch right off his face. 

Stiles just kept talking and laughing. The blue dress woman on his right leaned forward and touched Stiles' arm, smiling. That was too much.

Derek just kept sneaking looks every chance he got. He was making a fool out of himself for no reason. Stiles didn't seem to have noticed him, too busy whispering in someone's ear. 

Derek was in the clear at least. God, what was happening to him?

A waitress had come to take his order, he couldn't even remember what he told her. Stiles' laugh had echoed through the room, audible above the brouhaha of the people and families starting to fill the restaurant.

He couldn't wait to get out of here and forget everything. The nice bottle of wine which was just getting brought to his table would greatly help with that.

Another laugh and Derek almost choked on his forkful of fish. This was getting dangerous. At least the food was delicious. The wine too. Too delicious maybe.

Derek found himself a little dizzy as he got up after finishing his meal. He made his way outside on the deck. The setting sun scintillating on the ocean all the way to the horizon, just a little too bright. That too was dizzying. It reminded him of the disconcerting brightness of Stiles' smile.

"Hey, hey. Dude." Stiles was by his side in a second. "Hey."

Derek blinked as he felt Stiles' whole body press against his to hold him up. 

"Good wine, uh? Be careful or I'm gonna think I can't leave you alone for even a minute." Stiles scrunched up his nose, in a way Derek would describe - for lack of a better word - as adorable. Oh no. 

"Please don't." Derek answered the grimace with one of his own. He wasn't even sure what he was trying to counter here. 

"Come on, let's go back to the room." Stiles said, still playing human crutch. 

He didn't say _our_ room, Derek noted. He kept it neutral, because that was what supposed to be going on here, neutrality of two people sharing a space.

"I can walk just fine." Derek tried to push himself off but Stiles held him tightly close to him.

"Of course you can, big guy. It's just that I like being all up in your business!" Stiles joked, grinning at Derek.

"It's not like you need help getting people all up in your business." Derek retorted. Ah, shit, he just exposed himself, didn't he?

"Someone's been looking?" Stiles' eyebrows shot up. He looked way too smug for his own good, or Derek's own good. 

"You're loud." Derek tried to save face. It wasn't even a lie Stiles was loud. Charismatic and infuriatingly charming in a strange insinuous way too.

"So I've been told, yes. I can get even louder in the right circumstances." He licked his lips. Derek was in haze of alcohol and something else as his eyes followed the movement. Of course Stiles caught it. Stiles seemed to catch everything. "Come on. Let's get you to bed." He chuckled.

Derek's mind didn't, absolutely didn't, think about getting to bed with Stiles. There was absolutely nothing romantic about the way Stiles unceremoniously dumped him onto the bed. Nothing romantic and nothing even caring, really. 

Derek grunted as he landed awkwardly on the mattress in a heavy thump.

"Dude, you're heavy. Scoot." Stiles laughed, as he was getting Derek's shoes off. "I swear, I'm helping you today because you were nice enough to not send me off in the pit cabin of Hell where all the poor peasants are left to die in case of a shipwreck. Yes I saw Titanic. But I am not here to be your private butler, got it?"

"Got it." Derek grumbled, face already buried in his pillow.

He faintly heard Stiles walk around the suite, and bring a glass of water to his nightstand. After that it was just blackness.

  
*-*-* 

When Derek woke up in the morning he had almost forgotten all about Stiles, the double booking of the room, he had almost forgotten he was on a stupid ship in the middle of the ocean making her way to the Caribbean. 

Almost but not quite.

The first thing he saw, opening his eyes with difficulty - yeah he had gone a little too much on the wine last night - was the blurry figure sprawled asleep on the couch. Snoring. Derek frowned. It had almost felt like a fever dream but he had the all the proof he needed right there. It was reality.

In order to avoid some renewed attempt at socializing from his unexpected roommate, Derek decided to quickly get dressed and go venture outside up on deck. Try to get a feel of this place.

At least he would have something to tell Laura when he got back. He had insisted that he wouldn't even leave the room and would live a hermit life for the four weeks he was sentenced to be on board. He had planned on eating room service and wait it out. She had laughed saying that he wouldn't be able to not go to the gym. She had a point, working out was his outlet when he was stressed out and he sure as hell had a busy and sometimes stressful life working at Hale Corp.

He wasn't exactly stressed right now, even with the surprise addition to his trip. The iodine air was probably doing him some good without him even realizing. He didn't know if it would be judicious to tell her in details about the roommate who was still sleeping soundly on the couch, the roommate who was manifestly not a cruise hooker, no matter how flirtatious he had seemed to be with the other guests at the restaurant last night.

Derek didn't seem to be the recipient of any active flirting. Not that he wanted to be. Not at all. It was just a little infuriating to be exposed to it in any way, shape or form. 

He slipped out, keeping the door from clicking too loudly, and made his way out. He hadn't brought his map with him. He was pretty sure he had abandoned it at the restaurant in his haste to get out of there.

He still managed to not get too lost in his wanderings, discovered the cinema, the dance hall, one of the supposedly several swimming pools and yes Stiles had been right, there was even a tennis court. It wasn't a work out per se, because the gym still escaped him, but he had walked so much that he felt sweaty and he could feel the miles doing their effect on his legs. The boat was truly gigantic.

After lunch, Derek wanted to go find a quiet place somewhere out of the way. He could have gone back to his cabin, bask in the sun on his private balcony, but the room wasn't private anymore, was it?

There was just something about that Stiles guy he couldn't really shake off. It was slightly irritating and slightly something else that Derek didn't want to dive into at all.  
He just didn't want to think about it. He wasn't here for that. He didn't have his phone, he didn't have his laptop, he couldn't work. He had sent off a quick e-mail from Stiles' tablet but other than that it truly felt like a detox. Laura would be proud to know that he wasn't even missing it all that much. 

It was nice sunny day with enough of a breeze to make the sun bearable. There were people everywhere, Derek needed to get away. He wanted to avoid all of them. As much as he could at least. He ended up on a lounger, a little away from the crowd on the forward of the boat. The wind was blowing nicely, the movement of the waves was a little more distinctive here, but he could make do. He just needed to find some peace.

He had to get a little girl playing ball away from him and all would be good. A mean stare, some of these serial killer vibes were enough to make her run away to her mother. Very few parts of this damn ship were seemingly free of all the families and badly behaved children, screaming and running. He wasn't exactly proud of himself for that but the end did justify the means when Derek's peace and quiet were involved.

Derek was content with his little spot but of course, because he was so damn lucky, his safe haven happened to be Stiles' too.

Stiles quickly realized Derek had seen him, he smirked not ashamed of being caught looking from the side. Derek was almost surprised but when had Stiles been anything other than shameless? Derek nodded back politely in recognition. Stiles seemed to take it as an invitation. He quickly made his way over. Derek's stomach was twisting into knots. 

“Happy to see I'm not the only one who gets to see your mean side,” Stiles came to plop himself down on the lounger next to Derek's thighs.

“I’m mean but you clearly can’t get enough of my company” Derek replies with a pointed look.

“You caught me.” Stiles laughed as he raised both his hands in faux-surrender. "Can't get enough of you."

Derek stared at him blankly. It wasn't enough to share the room, they might have to share the outside deck too, share the whole ship. Derek didn't have it in him to fight it. He didn't quite understand why Stiles would come next to him unless he was trying to be annoying. If they were to sit on the same seat, so close into each other's space, then it would just be easier to go back to the cabin. Peace and quiet be damned. At least Derek wouldn't have to traumatize some little kid in the process.

_"Okay!"_ Stiles said, tapping Derek's calf as he was standing up. "Not that this is boring... I mean your conversation skills could probably improve by about a mile but I have something very urgent to do, at this very second. Right now."

Derek refused to be disappointed that his strange companion was leaving him already. Obviously, Stiles had other things to do. They hadn't signed up for a duo cruise. He was very free to do what he pleased and with whomever he pleased. Maybe Stiles had a date with one of the ladies from last night. Maybe even with the barman, who knew? Derek didn't care. He had explicitly asked Stiles to stay out of his way, Derek intended to reciprocate the feeling and not ask anything. He was going to stay out of Stiles' way and all the ill-advised decisions he might come to make while on the ship. If Stiles wanted to go for a random fuck and feel awkward for the rest of the cruise when he would inevitably cross path with his one night stand, he could go for it. He was an adult. He could make his own decisions. Good for him.

Derek watched him though, because instead of moving back inside, Stiles moved further up the deck. He fumbled a bit until he found his perfect spot, putting one foot on one bar of the railing and the other finding footing on an orange life ring.

Oh God, Derek straightened up. 

Stiles actually giggled, as he stood up at the forward of the ship. At the forward of this deck. It wasn't even water below. What was he thinking?

Stiles spread both of his arms out wide on each side and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I’m the king of the world! Yoohoooo!!!" 

Yoohoo. Derek grimaced.

Yeah, yoohoo and every single person present on the deck was turning to look at him, snickering. Yoohoo, Derek profoundly loathed all the unwelcome attention and would gladly leave that idiot alone. He would, but for the fact that Stiles' foot slipped from the buoy all of a sudden.

“What the _fuck_ is the matter with you?" Derek snapped catching him just in time.

"What the fuck is the matter with _you!"_ Stiles snapped back, as his hands grabbed at Derek for support and held on tightly. "We're here to live in the moment! Celebrate the moment. Life our best life, right?"

"Celebrate it without dying, will you?" Derek almost growled. It was an upgrade from the usual scowling.

Stiles rolled his eyes, letting out a groan. "You can let go of me now. I'm not dying today." He deadpanned.

Derek still made sure Stiles' feet were steadily anchored on the deck before letting go of his hold on him. Stiles' shirt was all wrinkled from Derek's grip on it.   
Stiles looked down at himself, before glancing back at Derek from under his eyelashes.

Derek glared, and Stiles's cheeks turned oddly pink for a moment.

"Don't say a word." Derek shook his head, unamused. "I'm not saving your ass twice."

"Of course not." Stiles frowned. His expression shifted in a second as he exclaimed, "See ya!" 

Stiles clicked his tongue, mock shooting at Derek with a finger gun, before spinning around smiling brightly at the crowd which was still looking at them as if they were part of the entertainment team.

"I'm alive!!!" He shouted and bowed dramatically. "Thank you, thank you."

Derek had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling looking at him. He was absolutely ridiculous and... cute.

Derek focused on the fact that he was as determined as ever not to have a good time on this cruise. He was also now determined to not get attached to a certain someone still fucking bowing at the crowd as he was making his way back inside.

He shook his head, exasperated, just a hint of fondness hidden deep as he made his way back inside too. Following Stiles. It was only because they were headed the same way, nothing else.

It was definitely not some kind of romantic bullshit here. Just something about Derek's cruise being ruined by a random guy. Random and attractive.

That last part somehow made it a lot worse.

*-*-*

Derek had settled back with his book. He hoped to at least finish one, be efficient in taking care of this to-read list that never seized to grow. It was also a good way of ignoring Stiles' presence in the cabin in the evening. Pretend Derek was alone with his thoughts.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Stiles rummage through his bag and take out an ocean blue Lovely Planet Caribbean travel guide and start to flip through the pages. He did that for about five minutes before moving to something else.

Derek hadn't read a single line that he could remember. This reading list was not going away any time soon.

Stiles jumped from the couch and went over to where his IPad was plugged in to charge. He unlocked it with that lightning fast tap tap tap of fingers that Derek found so enticing. He had never wanted to be a piece of Apple accessories more in his life. 

"Uh." Stiles frowned, eyes focused on the screen in his hands. His eyes widened comically wide. Derek tried to look back at his book as if he hadn't noticed anything.

" _You thought I was a hooker?!_ " Stiles spun around so fast he could have pulled a muscle. "A hooker? Me?" 

"What?" Derek blanked.

"A hooker? A cruise hooker? Doesn't that even exist? Holy shit? A hooker? Stiles the hooker Stilinski. Jesus fucking Christ. A _hooker..."_ Stiles was stuck in a loop.

"Wha-" Derek's eyes widened too as the words Stiles were saying, repeating endlessly, found their merry way to his brain cells.

"Dude, a hooker?" Stiles looked extremely perplexed and a little in shock. "What would you think I was a hooker?"

"How-" Derek was barely hanging on here.

"You forgot to log off your email account. Rookie mistake dude, you always have to log off." Stiles shook his head, slowly, judging. "Your not-wife answered your email."

"My sister..."

"That's not the point!" Stiles snorted. "That's _so_ not the point. A hooker? God, I would have loved to be mistaken for a hooker when I was in college. That would have been legendary!"

"You were naked in my room. And weren’t you in college, like, a week ago?" Derek said.

"First, not naked. _Relaxing._ You should try it sometimes. And doing it in what I thought was _my_ room. Second, not two weeks ago no, but not a long time ago, and I graduated with honors just so you know. That one day cruise I told you about was my senior cruise after graduation. Did you have one of those when you were in college? It was a real bore because I didn’t have that many real friends there. Anyway none of that is the point, the point is who in their right mind sees someone not-naked and immediately thinks they're a hooker? Dude..." Stiles snorted out a laugh. "Have you ever been with a hooker?"

Derek scoffed. 

"Well that answers it." Stiles concluded. "In case you hadn't figured it out all by yourself, I am not in fact a prostitute. Thank you for the compliment I guess. I didn't know this body could pull it off." He gestured at himself. "Glad to know I got it."

Derek closed his eyes. He had managed to make things awkward. As awkward as they could get.  
It all was his own fault for admitting to himself that he thought Stiles was an attractive guy. Thinking that Stiles was a hooker sent especially for him was obviously a clear tell that he thought he was attractive. More than attractive, almost addictive. Stiles knew everything now. Derek wouldn't be able to hide it. He couldn't even deny that he had a hard time keeping his eyes away from him and the moles that dotted his skin. Even now with his eyes closed, he could still picture them. 

With a sigh, he wondered if it was too late to swim back to Miami.

*-*-*

"Home sweet home!" Stiles said, throwing his backpack on the couch as he walked back in the room after having gone one of the daily excursions in Port Antonio.

There were boat trips out to Jamaica as the cruise ship anchored for a couple of days. Stiles had jumped on the first chance to go, while Derek had avoided the outing altogether. He planned on doing just that with all the next ones too. He had gladly decided to stay on board, enjoy the silence of an empty cabin and was just reading his book on the balcony. He was slowly but surely getting through chapters after chapters. It wasn't a page-turner but it was enough to keep his mind off thoughts of Stiles for a little while.

Derek breathed deeply in through his nose as Stiles stepped outside to join him. That had been a mistake. Derek was met by the intoxicating cocoa smell of Stiles' sunscreen mixed with the salty air. It was all becoming more powerful than any aphrodisiac on Derek's system.

He ran a hand down his face, pretending to be bothered by a ray of sunshine. Composure, Derek, come on.

"Rum, dude. Rum." Stiles gave him a rueful grin letting himself fall down on the chair opposite to Derek's.

"Did you spend your day drinking or did you actually visit like a good little tourist?" Derek raised an eyebrow.

Stiles huffed out a breathy laugh. "You're not fooling me with your fake bravado, dude, you think you're determined to be miserable for a month? Yeah, I'm not buying that. What did you do today? Went on the main deck, glowered at all the ugly shorts and cursed all of humanity with your stare? Let me know when you decide to take out the stick you have up your ass and start to enjoy this vacation."

"Weren't you regretting some dead bodies buried in the woods just a handful of days ago?" Derek asked.

"I mean yeah, the thrill of dead bodies, all hail necromancy." Stiles grinned like an idiot. He was an idiot, Derek shook his head. "Come on, aren't you going to enjoy these amazing islands? If you're too stuck up in your business ways, think about it this way : that trip cost a lot of money to your company, right? Return on investment, you have to enjoy yourself."

"I am very content with myself, thank you." Derek said flatly.

_"Really_ enjoy yourself." Stiles insisted. "If you insist on fighting me on this, it's going to be my mission to make you see the light, and by the light, I mean the bluest of blue skies. Look at it!" He gestured vigorously to said clear evening sky.

Derek closed his eyes and took another big inhale. Hmm, that smelled good. There was no point fighting it. Stiles reached out to pat Derek's arm, more like a light caress than a pat. It might have been done on impulse without thinking because as Derek reopened his eyes, Stiles' hand was gone and the younger man was looking at him, all innocent with his bright hazel eyes, tiny crinkles on the side.

Stiles smiled at him, the little private smile that had Derek's insides do all kinds of somersaults.

They ordered in, just a couple of club sandwiches. Stiles had sampled the whole selection of foods available at the jerk center on land. Derek just felt like staying in, staying with him. He had been alone all day after all.

  
Derek sat there and listened to Stiles talk and show him all the pictures he had taken of Jamaica. The sky was slowly changing color, going from blue to orange to pink and then violent overhead, before letting darkness fall over the ocean, fall over them in an intimate kind of calmness, a soft kind of companionship that Derek appreciated more than he expected he ever would.

  
This cruise wasn't so bad.

*-*-*

Stiles had gone out sometime after lunch. Derek had stayed behind in the cabin. It was a very nice cabin all things considered. Derek felt comfortable in there. The bedding was really nice. He thought a little bit about Stiles sleeping on the couch sometimes but after five nights, there had been no complaint. He did seem to have a little trouble falling asleep but that seemed to be a Stiles thing more than a couch thing. 

It was mid afternoon when Derek, lulled by the barely noticeable rocking of the ocean, managed to drift deep enough into sleep. He fell into a REM sleep with a very brief but strangely vivid dream in which he was at work with Laura, looking over that one urgent case they had been working on before he was forced to leave. That wasn't so strange, it wasn't the first time he had a dream about work. Laura had been right saying he had to take time away from it all to stop obsessing over deadlines and cases.

The one surprising part was that the dream slowly shifted as Stiles came in it. Came into their office, slowly walking, dripping wet from a shower.

Wait.

Stiles loomed there in the doorway leading to the bathroom. Just stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, as Derek blinked himself awake. Derek’s left eye twitched with the realization that this wasn't in fact a dream. 

Stiles scratched the side of his neck, his other hand tightly holding his very small towel in place around his hips. A few water droplets fell from his wet hair and down his bare chest.

Derek's mind stuck in a fog between dream and reality. Stiles had gotten tanner over the few days they had been on the ship. His collarbone was now highlighted by a discreet tan line from the t-shirt he had worn yesterday. Derek, still in his sleepy haze - all could be blamed on the sleepy haze - wanted to kiss that line and maybe nibble just a little bit to see if he could create a sweet bruise that would match the sun-kissed skin.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

Derek's eyebrows climbed up, stricken for a moment. His face slowly turned hot, probably red. He quickly shifted on the bed, averted his eyes, readjusted the very awkward boner trying to make an appearance right now.

"What?" Stiles asked with careful innocence. Fake. It was all fake innocence. Derek knew because Stiles could read him like an open book. The fakeness was just all the more confirmed when Stiles smirked. "Do I make your heart jump and your brain mush? Will you please draw me like one of your French girls?"

Stiles leaned back against door frame, smiling, while Derek was too busy choking himself in his pillow. Derek sighed, trying to steady his breathing. Breathe Derek, dammit.  
There were so many things he wanted to say to that. He could beg Stiles to stop with the Titanic references because shipwrecks were just not that common, or he could play into it and ask if Stiles had a Heart of the Ocean necklace on hand, because Derek did take a drawing class his sophomore year of college. He could tell Stiles he had mastered the shading technique practicing drawing peaches and would gladly put his skills to use drawing Stiles' round ass cheeks.  
Yes, Derek could appreciate Stiles' nice little body because yes Derek had looked, Stiles' swim trunks did little to hide the fact that he had a wonderful ass. 

"You're cute." Stiles grinned.

Cute? Stiles said it as if he was marveling some common knowledge, like it was just fact that Derek was cute when it was the first time in his adult life that anyone referred to Derek that way. He was always something along the line of hot but unattainable, asshole too. Even Laura didn't call him cute, she only called him stupid, but that was just her big sister's role to do so. Derek wasn't cute. Nobody saw him like that. Nobody could see beneath the surface. 

"So cute." Stiles said softer, more to himself than to Derek, before biting his lower lip to keep any other words from spilling out.

The hard afternoon sun had settled into the lovely glow of the early evening, the soft orange light flowing through the balcony sliding door, golden on Stiles dotted skin. Breathtaking. 

Stiles moved slowly, still holding his towel, still damp from his shower, still stunning. Stunning was the word, Derek was stunned, semi-conscious and unable to fight or comprehend anything as Stiles leaned down and slowly smoothed the crinkles on Derek's forehead with his thumb. Derek could only close his eyes, taking in the caress. He almost believed he felt a kiss on his hair too. Almost, but it was so faint he couldn't be certain. 

And then Stiles was gone. A shirt over his head and shorts pulled up in no time at all. Then he was out the door.

As soon as he heard the door click, Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Finally alone, finally able to catch the breath he had been holding. 

For a relaxing vacation, he felt like keeping his sanity intact with Stiles in the room was a hell of a lot of work. A lot more work than anything he had to deal with back in New York.

His whole body was shaking.

*-*-* 

They had started on their way to Santo Domingo, what was supposed to be a simple cruising day. The wind had started to pick up a bit.

Stiles was living his life, stepping in and out of Derek's bubble like he always belonged there. Derek didn't even startle anymore when he heard a key unlocking the door. It was expected. They each went on with their own lives and didn't feel like they had to tell the other what was their personal plans each day but somehow they still found themselves ending up spending several hours in the same space. Crazy what a week with someone could do.

The seas were considerably rough, rocking the boat more than they had gotten used to. 

The door flew open as Stiles stood there, deathly pale.

Derek startled at the commotion this time. "Fuck, are you alright?"

Stiles didn't answer, didn't move either, breathed audibly. Something was wrong.

"Stiles, are you alright? You're really pale." Derek was at his side in a second, grabbing his arm to softly pull him inside the room.

Stiles answered him with a shaky smile. "I met that steward, you know, Scott? He told me to go back in my room."

"Okay. Come sit down." Derek smiled, squeezing his arm gently. 

"Not - not just me. Uh. Everyone is supposed to say inside." Stiles stuttered.

That made sense, with the winds and overall bad weather today, that the crew would advise the passengers to stay inside and enjoy the indoors activity. None of it seemed bad enough to actually send people to their rooms though. They weren't being quarantined, Derek was pretty sure this wasn't what was going on. This wasn't a hurricane. It was just a little storm.

"There's no need to worry." Derek tried to find something to say that could be comforting. He wasn't used to comforting people. 

"Ah yeah, worry. No, of course, I'm not worried. There's no iceberg in the Caribbean sea. But that reminds me I used to have motion sickness as a kid. I mean I grew out of that. We're all good here, don't worry. I'm not going to throw up or anything." Stiles tried to repress shaking through his whole body.

"Oh, come here." Derek instinctively pulled him into a hug, and squeezed him comfortingly tight. "You're fine. You'll be fine."

"Uhh. Tell that to my stomach." Stiles mumbled, face buried in Derek's shoulder. He seemed to accept the hug without complaint, maybe Derek was doing something right after all. 

Derek shook his head and gave Stiles a soft tentative look. "Just come to bed?" It came out as a question, shy and uncertain.

"There's a lot I could say to that." Stiles huffed weakly.

"It speaks volumes to your physical state that you aren't." Derek couldn't keep the fondness out of his tone as he said that. "Come on, let's get you in bed."

Stiles slowly sat down on his bed and shut his eyes. He started to take deep breaths, as Derek stayed close rubbing gently at his back.

"Come lie down, Stiles. You won't get sick. I know you won't. You want to know how I know that?" Derek asked.

Stiles only grumbled as a way to acknowledge that words were being exchanged here.

"Because this is _my room."_ Derek said in all seriousness. He didn't know if verbal placebos actually worked but he could at least try. "You're not allowed to get sick in my room."

Stiles snorted, his body shaking with laughter on top of the rest. "God, don't make me laugh." 

They somehow found themselves lying there after a moment. Stiles tucked under Derek's arm, head resting against his shoulder. Derek's hand found itself in Stiles' messy hair, stroking gently.

He felt something warm in his chest, something right somewhere in there. He couldn't put a word on the sensation. The storm was going to pass and everything would go back to normal. This was just something brought by the winds, fleeting and bound to be momentary.

Stiles mumbled something sounding very close to approval as he snuggled closer. They stayed like that for a few moments, Stiles calming his breathing, and hopefully controlling the queasiness in his belly. 

Derek's heart was rabbiting in his chest. He almost felt like he could levitate in the air, float above the ground with something that came really close to what joy was supposed to feel like.

"Tell me something, Derek." Stiles murmured so low it was almost inaudible under the low rumble of the boat rocking on the waves and the wind hitting the windows.

"Yeah?" Derek breathed out. He felt Stiles' warm eyes traveling over his face. He couldn't not turn, compelled to look at him. 

"Tell me. I don't have this all wrong, right?" 

He phrased it like a question, but Derek knew that it wasn't really one. Stiles knew. He had to know. Derek’s eyes fell automatically to Stiles' mouth still slightly open, rosy lips so inviting. 

“No.” 

Stiles huffed out a soft little chuckle. Derek was so utterly charmed. 

There was a brief silence after that. They looked at each other for a while, Derek wondering what Stiles could possibly be reading in his eyes. 

When Stiles spoke again, there was some kind of assuredness in his tone. “I could have ended up with a worst roommate. You're pretty okay.”

"You're not too bad either." Derek said quietly. It was the closest to a confession he would ever get.

Stiles met his gaze, a mischievous twinkle in his hazel eyes.

It took another minute before Stiles slowly leaned closer into Derek’s space, so slow, eyes boring into Derek’s. The intention was unmistakable. Derek could feel the anticipation pumping through his veins as Stiles stopped the ghost of his lips barely a breath away from Derek's mouth.

Derek held his breath in fear that any possible wrong move would break the moment. The hesitation didn’t last more than a couple of seconds before Stiles’ lips brushed against Derek's. Soft and delicate. So gentle in their discovery. Derek could barely handle it. He took it upon himself to press just a little more firmly, make it last just a little longer, before pulling back to look at Stiles.

He was still very pale, his breathing still slightly uneven. Still as absolutely gorgeous as ever.

"Let's just watch TV and wait for the storm to pass." Derek said, reaching for the remote without giving Stiles the time to protest.

*-*-*

The winds slowly died down, the waves calmed down and with the renewed stability of the boat, Stiles seemed to regain some of his spirit, started to fidget next to Derek.

"You're feeling better." Derek stated. 

Stiles turned around, studying Derek in silence. His face turned a nice shade of pink.

"You've regained some colors too. That's a good sign." Derek said, trying not to read into things.

"Yep. Pretty sure I'm blushing because of what I'm imagining right now." Stiles admitted after a few seconds, his eyes bright.

Derek took in a sharp breath, stunned by the possibility, the mere idea of things moving any further than that one chaste kiss because Stiles needed comfort. 

"Unless you're second-guessing what happened earlier?" Stiles asked, licking his lips as if to chase the taste of their kiss. 

Derek raised his eyebrows in a silent question. Stiles' eyelashes left dark shadows on his cheeks. Derek didn’t dare voice the thought running through his head. Didn't let himself want it.

"I wasn't in a vomiting trance. I remember." Stiles shrugged. "Though, to be fair, the nearly vomiting feeling made it all a little foggy. I wouldn't mind a redo? I mean, I felt like there was potential for greatness there if I can say so myself. So if you're not entirely opposed to the idea, I'd like to try it again."

Stiles leaned in to lay a soft kiss on Derek's jawline. Derek just went with it, refused to think about how bad all of this could turn out to be, stuck in the middle of the ocean, stuck in the same room with a guy he didn't know a week ago. There was still three weeks to go, this could be a terrible mistake. Derek didn't let himself think it would be.

He cupped Stiles' face to angle him just right and kissed his mouth, parted his lips and let Stiles' tongue sneak in to meet his own.

This kiss was definitely on another level from the sweet and soft brush of lips from before. A lot bolder.

Derek's hand moved to the back of Stiles' neck to guide him closer, keep him there. Changing the angle of the kiss again made Stiles moan and stumble from where he was keeping himself upright, elbow firmly pressed on the mattress. 

"Yeah, give me all you got." Stiles chuckled.

"Shut up." Derek closed his eyes, trying not to smile but failed.

Derek had never felt something like that, had never smiled or laughed with someone in a situation like this, not while kissing, not while fucking. He never thought this kind of things could be felt as fun. But Stiles was fun. Stiles was the source a bubbly kind of feeling that Derek felt bursting in his chest. He felt like smiling, felt like maybe he didn't even have to hide it. 

Stiles cradled Derek's face in his hands, ready to lean in again but stopped when a knock was heard at the door. 

"Let's just ignore it. They'll go away." Stiles scrunched up his nose, before closing the gap and meeting Derek's mouth in a fever of frantic kissing.

Another knock knock. Stiles pulled back with a sigh. They looked at each other, a little breathless, just a hint of shyness still present.

_"Crap."_ Stiles growled. "Hold that thought."

He pressed a finger to Derek's mouth, before jumping out of bed to get to the door.

"Hey, Stiles." It was the voice of that steward Scott, bright and cheery. Derek rolled his eyes at no one. Of course, it was Scott. 

"Heyyyy..." Stiles trailed off.

"I wanted to come see if everything was alright after the turbulence. You didn't look too good when I last saw you. I would hate if anything happened to you after everything."

"After everything?" Stiles frowned.

"Yeah, dude, the double booking. I owe you my job for not filing a complaint. I really want you to enjoy this cruise. - Oh hey. Derek, right? Did you handle the storm alright?" Scott turned to Derek who had taken a seat at the table and was trying to unlock Stiles' tablet. 

When was Stiles' dad's birthday again?

"Uh?" Derek looked up. 

He could still feel his lips slightly swollen from kissing. Hopefully, it was discreet enough to not be noticeable from the door. He hadn't expected Scott to talk to him at all after their first and only real meeting that first day. Either Derek had not made that bad of an impression or Scott was just taking his job really seriously and wouldn't let personal feelings get in the way.

"Should I add you to the list for tomorrow?" Scott asked.

"Yes." Stiles answered in his place, and turned to Derek to explain, "I signed up for the day in Santo Domingo tomorrow. The boat will leave at 9. You're coming." He grinned.

Derek didn't have the heart to tell him no. Probably because he was still sporting a hard-on under the table and was now imagining kissing Stiles on a beach or at a cocktail bar, kissing Stiles everywhere. 

The longer Scott stayed there at the door, the less hard Derek felt. He would probably have questions to ask in a few minutes.

"Okay, cool." Scott nodded smiling awkwardly. "So everything is good here?"

"Yeah good, thank you."

"Good." Scott still stood there.

"Thank you." Derek got up and slammed the door shut. 

Thanks for ruining the mood, Scott.

*-*-*

Stepping off the smaller motorboat bringing them to Santo Domingo, Derek had to get his footing accustomed to being on land again. 

Stiles' fingers found his hand. He was excited to get a feel of the real life he said. Derek hadn't made any plans of stepping off the ship at all so any Caribbean feel was more feel than he ever expected.

The cruise was already such a change of scenery from New York. Blue sky, clear blue waters and the green islands in the distance, it was all so pure in a way he hadn't imagined. He started to not think about work at all, not worry about Laura having to finish the project all by herself while he was stuck on the boat. He didn't feel stuck on the boat anymore, he quite liked his boat. A nice home to have even just for a little while. 

"Wake up, dude!" Stiles said cheerily, placing a hand on Derek’s shoulder to get his attention before kissing his cheek with a smack. "I don't know about you but I don't feel like taking one of these touristy tours. Let's go to a colmado? Yeah?"

Derek barely had the time to nod along that he was already being pulled down the street.   
They followed the merengue music blasting through the air and found a little spot in the corner where one of the locals was jamming with a couple of friends.

One of the women standing there offered Stiles a hand to go dancing.

"Ah yes okay, merengue I can do? I'm not a great dancer, but merengue? It's as easy as walking, that's what people say." Stiles let go of Derek's hand and went to move his hips from side to side with each step, following the woman's lead.

His eyes kept searching for Derek every time he turned back in his direction. His smile growing bigger and bigger. Derek was smiling too. 

When Stiles finally bowed down to his audience, once again with all the dramatics of course, they found a small colmado owned by a nice old lady who could sell them anything they needed and more.   
Stiles was letting himself be talked into purchases when a group of Dominicans came to play dominoes and invited Derek and Stiles to join them in a game. _Fierce_ game. Stiles was absolutely loosing said game and a little of his sanity in the process it seemed.

Derek couldn't help but look at him as mocking as he was fond. This guy was something else entirely. 

They went to the small lunch counter and ordered two ice cold Presidente beers and some sandwiches. Derek enjoyed the simple day, he didn't feel like running the boardwalk. This was more than fine, nice people, nice food and nice music still being played on the street. Stiles next to him.

Stiles insisted on finding a few souvenirs to bring home and a present for his dad. Derek let himself be convinced. He wandered around, bought coffee for Laura and for his office, and a little magnet to put on his fridge. Just some local color to keep with him always. 

Stiles jumped back next to him after disappearing for a good five minutes. "Open your hand!" He said excitedly.

"Why?" Derek frowned. 

"Just open it. Trust me." Stiles had that glint in his eyes. The one Derek started to know a little too much. Mischief.

Derek opened his hand, sighing heavily as he was humoring Stiles and not enjoying every second of this day. Stiles could read between the lines.

"Oh yeah, let that big sigh out, dude, let it all out. You're good? Better now?" He joked. Derek rolled his eyes. "Ready?"

"Yes, ready."

"For you." Stiles smiled as he dropped two small Larimar blue cuff links in Derek's hand. "Take my fashion advice. These will definitely elevate any of your suits to another level, like 1000%."

"That's-" Derek was still staring at the two blue rocks sitting there in the palm of his hand. He felt dumbfounded.

"Yeah." Stiles shrugged. "Too much. Shouldn't have. All that. Too late now. And I'm not a suit kind of guy so I won't ever wear them myself. Don't even try to sneak them in my backpack later tonight or, God forbid, offer to pay me back. They're yours and I want to know that you'll wear them. Will you?"

When Derek looked up, Stiles was looking right back at him, with that open expression that he had sometimes. Derek tried to calm the pounding in his chest and simply said, "Yes."

"Good answer." Stiles grinned.

Derek closed his hand over the cuff links, gripped them tightly, could almost feel them leave small indentations on his skin. All he could do was kiss Stiles right then and there. 

He still had a slight frown when he pulled back. He was smiling but this was a lot to take in. Stiles, not for the first time, traced his thumb over the crinkles creasing his forehead to make them disappear.

"I just had to get them for you. You like them?" He whispered as he would a secret.

"Yes." Derek nodded, still sounding breathless. "They're... beautiful."

Stiles smiled again, bright, blinding. Derek had never seen that much beauty.

*-*-*

Derek opened the glass door to wander out onto the suite balcony. He went to lean on the rail and watched the shoreline basking in the golden evening light.

It was all too much. Derek's heart might not be equipped for all he was feeling coming back on the cruise ship. Stiles had just snuggled against him on the motorboat back, held his hand and left a small trail of tiny little kisses up Derek's neck and jaw, anywhere he could reach without having to move from his seat. (Safety first).

  
Derek's whole body was vibrating with everything that was Stiles. He just wasn't going for things half way and Derek felt his heart swell. Just a little scary but oh so sweet. 

He let out a deep breath letting go of some of the nerves still pulling at his lungs. 

"You okay?" Stiles stepped out but stayed at a distance. "Do you need a minute?"

Derek looked sideways at the wonderful boy sharing his space. Seeing as Derek didn't tell him to leave, Stiles dared step further on the balcony and come stand next to him.

The air outside was still hot from the day. The humidity of the ocean air curled around their bodies. 

Derek abandoned his internal struggle and pinned Stiles against the railing, their hips and mouths pressed together in a second. He dropped his head into that soft spot where Stiles' neck met his shoulder, breathing him in, all salt and cocoa smell. 

"I feel like we've been very chaste until now." Stiles teased, a soft whimper escaping his mouth on the last word.

"What are we doing?" Derek asked, mouthing at Stiles skin, sucking on it, forgetting to be careful.

Stiles' hips flexed against his. "Exactly what we should be doing." He moaned.

Derek felt dizzy from the sound of it alone. Stiles threw his head up to the sky giving him a full access, his breathing labored. Derek kissed his way up to find Stiles' mouth, gasping when Stiles' hand grabbed his ass to push him flush against himself. 

They were both wearing thin cotton shorts, still too much of a barrier between them. Derek needed more. His hands made their sweet sweet way down Stiles' chest and to the waistband of his shorts. 

"Oh please." Stiles whispered barely audible, more to himself like a prayer. The feeling transcended through these simple words, permission enough. 

Derek would have groaned, but Stiles' hand came up to his mouth to stop the sound. Derek looked up at him with a questioning eyebrow. 

"Shhh. Shut up and put your lips on mine." Stiles demanded, following his words with actions until Derek was breathless and panting.

He had almost forgotten they were outside, too busy with their preoccupation with each other. But Stiles was right, they were definitely outside, out of view, but not out of earshot of anyone standing on their own balcony this evening.

When Stiles seemed satisfied that his command of kissing had been met, he pushed Derek back enough to tear off his shirt then his own and stood there, waiting for Derek to do something, anything. 

The sun seemed to sink into the ocean burning bright amber, but Derek didn't have eyes to consider the beauty of it when Stiles was right here.

He shook his head, not quite believing this was happening. Not quite believing he was letting himself have this. He slid his arms loosely around Stiles' neck, studying him.

"What are you waiting for?" Stiles breathed out, rolling his hips and making both of them moan at the sensation.

"I had a good day today." Derek admitted in a whisper. "Thank you."

"Are we having a conversation?" Stiles asked, with a lopsided grin. "I'm always up for talking but I mean, right now, I'm definitely up in more ways than one and I can feel you are too because you're definitely naked right now so there cannot be anything hidden in any pockets. You're definitely happy to see me." Stiles chuckled proud of himself. Oh, he thought he was so smart.

"You're ridiculous." Derek shook his head, groaning quietly.

"That I am." Stiles brushed his nose against Derek's cheekbone. "Ridiculously into you."

Derek could feel him grinning. He turned his head to capture Stiles' mouth in a kiss again as Stiles dipped his hand lower and lower and... _Fuck._ Derek squeezed his eyes shut as he felt Stiles' long fingers finally wrapping around the both of them. So good, Derek couldn't help but groan. Loud.

Of course, Stiles laughed, smug and breathless. Little fucker. 

Stiles’ chuckle disintegrated into a moan as Derek's fingers dug into his hair and tugged as he leaned down to mouth at Stiles' throat. In terms of discretion, they probably could have done a lot better but Derek didn't give a single fuck about traumatizing an old Karen on a cruise ship.

He couldn't even remember what it felt like to not have Stiles pressed against him like that.

Stiles' hips moved, rutting against him shamelessly, following the rhythm of his hand until they were both gasping with need.

"God, I want you." Derek murmured, his hands traveling all over Stiles' skin, discovering all that new territory, staking claim sometimes as his fingertips pressed a little harder.

Something about the golden sun sparkling brightly on the ocean and the soft sound of the waves below, the sweet breathy whimpers coming out of Stiles' parted lips as Derek left soft kisses to his sun warmed skin, something about all of these things felt just about magical.

It might be the first time that this cruise felt like paradise. 

  
*-*-*

The next morning, as Derek woke up feeling the warmth of Stiles' body seeping through him from all around, he couldn't help but feel like all the sunshine was actually coming from right here in his bed. Behind him, Derek heard him grumble something unintelligible before leaving a sleepy kiss between Derek's shoulder blades.   
Stiles' arms came to wrap around him and squeezed tight around Derek's waist.

Derek felt held, really held for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. Stiles was still sleeping, possessively sleeping. It took Derek a long time to realize that the reason his cheeks were hurting was because he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Couldn't keep it in, didn't even want to try.

  
Derek turned to look at the man sharing his bed. He pretended to be asleep a little while longer. One of Stiles' eyes peeked open before immediately closing again as he saw Derek looking at him.

Stiles quickly pulled the comforter up over their heads, covering them almost completely, nuzzling into Derek's chest. Humming in contentment, leaving a tiny kiss in the soft chest hair there.

Derek craned his neck so he could easily place a kiss onto Stiles' hair if he felt the need to. He certainly felt the need to about four times just now. He wrapped an arm around Stiles' chest and pulled him even closer. Derek had turned the cabin A/C up during the night. They had found themselves absolutely burning up in there sharing so much body heat.

"So... that was nice." Stiles yawned, still pressed up against Derek's chest. "Really nice."

"Yeah." Derek had to agree. It had been more than nice. It had been nice and then it had been more and more.

"We should definitely do that again. That totally calls for a redo. Totally." Stiles smiled suddenly, dazzling.

"I think we already redid." Derek retorted.

Stiles looked up at him, eyes scrunched tight with a somewhat beatific grin on his face. "Yeah yeah, but you can't tell me you have only four times in you." He rolled his eyes. "Pretty sure I could do that continuously, for the next three weeks non-stop. I wouldn't get tired of it at all. Pretty sure there are a lot of things we could do to never get bored. Pretty sure they sell interesting stuff at the ship store, I thought about going to check it out the other day but it felt presumptuous to buy anything when I hadn't kissed you yet. Fuck, that sounded a little creepy, didn't it? I mean, lube and condoms at least would be cool? Not that this wasn't fine, this was very very fine. God, okay, I need to shut up."

Derek stared at him, a strange feeling of fondness mixed with irritation still, but mostly fondness he realized as he said, "You can keep talking, I don't mind."

"Oh wow, Grumpy Derek likes me talking? If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't long ago that my endless ramblings antagonized you beyond compare." Stiles sorted.

"Yeah, well... things change." Derek said softly back.

"Woah, I don't know what's happening to you... Something to do with the magical powers of the Caribbean sea I guess, the bluest of skies turning everything bright and golden. This cruise is definitely doing you good then. Even without a surprise cruise hooker, would you believe that?" Stiles grinned, peeking out his tongue. "It's certainly doing me good. I mean someone certainly is doing me... good."

This idiot was proud of that awful awful joke. 

"I take back what I said about you talking." Derek deadpanned. "Please shut up." 

*-*-*

The ship continued her course through the Caribbean sea, neither of them seemed inclined on going to any of the daily trips or any of the available onboard activities for a few days. Stiles tried to politely tell Steward Scott to get lost with all his offers. He kept insisting they had to go on one excursion or another, be good little tourists. The kid wasn't really catching up on the new development in Derek and Stiles' roommate arrangement. 

If they were to step out on the balcony right now, they could see Barbados, butt naked and still sweaty from sex. A truly ideal way of spending their vacation. 

The next couple of weeks moved quickly. The perfect recipe of sea, sex and sun. The sun at its zenith over the clear blue waters, white sand and tall palm trees.

They did agree to leave the boat a few times, explore something other than each other's bodies for a few hours. It felt good too, Stiles' fingers laced with his, fitting in there so perfectly. 

It was when they stopped, anchoring in Costa Maya, that it finally dawned on Derek that this cruise wasn't going to last forever. This wasn't meant to last. God, he felt so stupid all of a sudden for letting himself be swept away by the feeling of lightness that came from being in Stiles' arms.

Steward Scott had come to them, beaming happily about the last two stops before regaining Miami. Cozumel for two days and then Nassau and everything would be over. All the good things always had to come to an end. All of this had only been a a bright colored illusion induced by the glitters of sunlight. 

"Back to the motherland soon." Stiles said softly as he came to settle down next to where Derek had been sitting on the balcony. One arm wrapped around Derek' shoulders and pulled him close. "Do you want to visit Cozumel tomorrow? Could be fun." 

Yeah, so it seemed that Stiles wanted to ignore the elephant in the room. He also ignore the way Derek’s face fell at the words.

"I was thinking about gathering my things." Derek said darkly.

Stiles grimaced. "Dude, there's still four days, you're not seriously packing already." Derek's closed off expression was probably enough of a tell. "Oh shit. You're having an existential crisis. That's what's happening? Fuck, no, Derek, don't do this."

Derek only frowned, hopefully that conveyed everything he couldn't find words to say.

"Oh Der, come on. We still have time." Stiles stroked his hair fondly. "We have time."

Who was he trying to convince here?   
Derek grunted out a frustrated sigh. Even Stiles wasn't trying to make this into something it wasn't. This was meant to end. This was nothing more than a vacation romance. Derek took a deep inhale, hoping to ease that invisible grip tightening around his lungs.

He kissed Stiles softly on the temple before getting up.

Derek left the room without another word and went to lose himself on the upper deck, gazing out at the land on the horizon. He wasn't meant to have things like this in his life. His life was meant to be as grey as the plain and boring interior of his New York office. He wasn't meant to live in full colors, his heart wasn't meant to keep feeling this light.

His biggest fault was to have let someone crawl under his skin and into his heart like that. He had been so foolish to let himself allow it to happen. As idiotic as all the stupid rom-coms Laura watched growing up. 

He crossed his arms hugging himself, bracing himself against all of these wrong feelings telling him it had just been a terrible mistake after all. It wasn't just feelings, it was almost fact, a certainty. Derek's life was taking a turn for the worst in this very moment because he had let himself believe in something he could never have for real.

He avoided Stiles for the rest of the day and went to sleep without even throwing one glance in his direction.  
It felt like someone had punched him in the gut when he realized that Stiles wasn't joining him in the bed. He shouldn't have been surprised seeing how the day had gone but he missed him, missed his warmth and his snuggles.

  
When Derek opened his eyes again in the early hours, Stiles was sprawled out on the couch, facing the wall, with one leg hanging off. Derek could see the long curve of his spine where his t-shirt riled up. Derek felt shivers run through him, his chest tightening again. Four days. Four days and all of this will be over for good. He repeated that to himself like it was the answer to his mitigated feelings. Like it was good enough.

As he finally woke up, the first thing Stiles did was look in Derek's direction with an open and hopeful expression, a small crinkle on his forehead as he was waiting for something, expecting Derek to talk first.

Derek frowned and didn't acknowledge the look or anything else for that matter and continued reading the book which had been felt to gather dust for the past couple of weeks. 

Stiles huffed out, frustrated. "When you got something in your head, really, you're insufferable. Wanting to be left alone, that's just your default setting, isn't it? You don't want to talk? Do you think I give a shit? I don't. I never have. I don't intend on changing, just FYI."

He angrily pulled up his shorts over his boxers and left, slamming the door behind him.

Somehow Derek wished he was just a little more screwed up than he felt and buried his whole angst in sex with Stiles, fucking each other until the sun rose on their last day and they had no other choice but to say goodbye. It might have felt better than this. 

Derek couldn't pull his head out of his ass and Stiles got angrier by the second. He had every reason to. Derek couldn't even blame him. He had never managed anything better than self-sabotage.

*-*-*

Stiles came back about twenty minutes later. He opened the door with difficulty as he was holding a tray with breakfast for the two of them.

Derek had taken seat on the couch, missed Stiles' smell like a whipped idiot. He was finally able to breathe again when he saw that Stiles hadn't actually left for Cozumel today. He pulled his knees up, making room on the couch for Stiles to come sit next to him.

Stiles abandoned his spot in the doorway, put the breakfast tray on the small table and made his way to Derek's side.

"Derek. Derek, please. There's a conversation we need to have and... I'm not stepping off this boat unless we have it." His voice was soft, all hushed tones, as if Derek was going to flee if he spoke any louder.

"What is there to say?" Derek couldn't avoid the feeling of sadness that ran painfully through his heart. 

"I don't know." Stiles shrugged. "Was it just a cruise fuck for you? Was it just because it was so convenient, being stuck in the same room like that?"

"You know that's not what it was." Derek could admit to that at least. He couldn't let Stiles leave thinking this didn't mean anything.

"But? There's a but, right? There's a reason you've been off ever since we started the journey back." Stiles scooted closer as if Derek talking was enough to see an opening here. There wasn't.

"We only have three days." Derek couldn't help but feel a pang of dread in his chest. Three days. Fuck.

"To figure shit out." Stiles simply said. It sounded so easy coming out of his mouth.

How simple had Derek' needs, desires and hopes become that this simple sentence could make him breathe again. 

"No..." Derek forced the word out.

"Come on. There's always a way." Stiles looked so open, so certain.

Derek shook his head slowly. "The long distance thing, that never works."

"Why is there a need for distance?" Stiles sounded honestly curious. 

"You live in California and I live in New York. I don't see how we could date with 3 thousand miles between us." Derek replied matter-of-factly. He wasn't about to tell Stiles he had calculated the exact mileage. That was too depressing to talk about.

"I mean, I understand that you have your job, your career, your sister. You're not leaving New York." Stiles said because apparently he had thought about this.

"I don't expect you to leave your life, your dad, for, for _what?_ Someone you met three weeks ago, been fucking for two?" Derek gave him a tiny, self-deprecating smile.

"Yeah, I too felt like that first week was a waste." Stiles nodded vigorously.

Of course he was going to try to make a joke out of this. Derek could count on Stiles to make things feel light and happy, always playing into the comic relief. The frown on Stiles' face right now wasn't trying to be funny though.

"That's not exactly-" Derek started.

"No, no but that's exactly what I'm saying." Stiles cut in. "The two and even three weeks, they mean something to me. You," He averted his eyes, looking uncomfortable for a moment before glancing back at Derek. "You mean something to me. I'm not ready to say goodbye, not now, not in three days. I don't want to have to go through three days of knowing these are the last days. You get what I'm saying? I don't want last days."

"I can't promise you anything." Derek said sternly. Stiles' words fighting their way through his chest. It felt good to hear them.

"I'm not asking for a promise."

"What do you want me to say?" Derek asked, a hint of sadness creeping into his voice.

Stiles looked back at him, hesitated a split-second before saying, "Ask me."

"What?"

"I bet New York is pretty neat. _Ask me_." 

"No. No, I can't ask you that. I'm busy, I work all the damn time. I -" Derek's voice cracked.

He couldn't do that, he couldn't be responsible for that leap of faith even if the idea of Stiles coming to New York, trying to making this thing between them last was enough to bring back the flutters in his chest.

"Tell me you don't want me then. I don't want any of your dumb excuses. Better end it now than wait for the last heartbreaking second of one of us stepping off this fucking boat. Tell me you don't want anything, I'll go back to sleeping on the couch and pretend I don't mind." Stiles was looking straight at him with an intensity that was clearly meant to convey some exasperation along with the hope that it wouldn't come to that.

Derek's mouthed opened to speak but no sound was coming out. He couldn't let it come to that.

"Was this just a cruise fuck?" Stiles scooted closer again until he was almost pressed against Derek now.

"No." Derek replied again. His voice almost a whisper.

"Ask me." Stiles demanded again, his lips so close to brushing against Derek's, pulling him in.

Derek captured his lips instead of answering anything, tongue slipping in. Maybe he hoped to swallow Stiles' demands with this kiss, maybe he hoped he would make him understand everything he needed him to hear without any words. 

Stiles' fingers tugged at Derek's hair, hard, hard enough to pull his head back. "Babe."

Derek held his breath. 

"Babe. Look at me. Listen to me. Are you listening? Yeah?" Stiles' eyes were so bright, Derek couldn't look away.

Derek nodded.

"I finished college, I was barely getting home that my dad forced me on this trip for a month. Don't get me wrong, I love my dad but he's clearly fine with phone calls and seeing me a few times a year, I am too, we don't need to be in each other's pockets. I'm free to go where I please. I'll get a job, an internship, anything, I can even apply for a graduate program at Cornell or Columbia, I mean they do sound like pretty good schools, yeah? That way I'll be busy too." Stiles really had thought about this, Derek realized.

He swallowed around the tightness in his throat. "I can't ask you that." 

Stiles broke into a smile, shaking his head slowly. "Well, I'm telling you. I’m not letting go. I’m letting you go. Der.”

“I think I'm in love with you.” Derek blurted out. Oh crap, he just said that out loud.

Stiles’s face circled through a mix of emotions, ending on what looked like happiness. He beamed. His hundred watts smile was back in full force. 

“I’ll take it.” He closed the distance between them and kissed Derek again. It felt as sweet as it felt frantic. “It’s the next three days on the boat and then it’s the rest of our lives. God, I’ll take it.”


End file.
